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Pot legalization vote totals may not be certified in time to enact law

By Katie Lannan, State House News Service

Updated:
12/01/2016 08:01:19 AM EST

BOSTON -- Vote totals for the marijuana legalization ballot question may not be certified by state officials in time for main provisions of the law to take effect next month, a potential delay that met pushback Wednesday from the panel charged with signing off on election results.

Voters in the Nov. 8 election approved legalization of the adult use of marijuana, authorizing on Dec. 15 the use and possession of marijuana by individuals 21 and older as well as the growth of up to six marijuana plants in their residences. Retail sales will follow at a later date.

Before that measure -- or the other successful statewide ballot question restricting farm animal confinement -- can become law, the eight-member Governor's Council must certify the election results.

Noting the effective date, councilors on Wednesday pressed the director of the state's election division to give them a timeframe on when the division would have results ready for their vote.

Councilor Robert Jubinville, a Milton Democrat, said he had been hearing from residents concerned that the law may not be implemented as quickly as expected because the votes have not yet been certified.

"They are getting a feeling that this is starting to get dragged out because of people in high places that were against it," Jubinville said, noting that Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and other top state political figures had prominently opposed legalization.

The council on Wednesday certified the state's electors for the Electoral College.

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Before election results reach the council, they must be certified by both local officials and Secretary of State William Galvin's office.

Under questioning by the council, Michelle Tassinari, the director and legal counsel for the elections division in Galvin's office, said the wait for the ballot question results reflected a time-consuming administrative process rather than a policy position.

"Since the election itself, we've been working diligently with the cities and towns for their certification process," Tassinari said. "Under state law, they have until the 23rd to complete their certification, and then they send it to us, and now we are reviewing all of those. Under another state law the electors have to be ceritifed within 10 days after a local election official certifies, so that was today's meeting."

Tassinari told the council she could not give them a "solid expectation" of when the ballot results would be ready. She said the office is working in order of priority -- first certifying results that have deadlines set by state or federal law -- and its next step will be the congressional races, for which federal officials must receive necessary paperwork by this year.

A new requirement to conduct post-election audits in some precincts -- part of a 2014 election laws reform package -- "added an extra layer" to the process this year, Tassinari said.

Tassinari said the Dec. 15 date was chosen by the people who wrote the petition and was not based on any statutory requirement or deadline. She said there had never been a "guarantee the election results would be certified by then."

"We're not looking at it in a special order because of something like that, because again we have the same obligation to certify all of the questions at the same time, because they were all voted on at the same time," she said.

Councilor Jennie Caissie said the date was "arbitrarily chosen" and suggested it should have been stripped out or changed before the question hit the ballot.

"When this question was approved perhaps that date should not have been approved because it was arbitrary, unrealistic in a presidential year," the Oxford Republican said. "It shouldn't have been certified by the [Supreme Judicial Court]."

The councilors and Polito, who presides over the council, said they would be ready to certify the ballot questions results as soon as they receive the numbers and would hold a special meeting if necessary. The council typically meets on Wednesday afternoons and has two meetings -- Dec. 7 and Dec. 14 -- scheduled before Dec. 15.

"The people spoke, and they said that the 15th of December they wanted this law in effect, so we are ready, or I am ready, to come in even on any day other than a Wednesday to certify and vote on that," Jubinville said.

Polito told Tassinari that as soon as the results can be brought before the council, "our office and the executive office is ready to accommodate a meeting at any time."

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